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Release date: November 15, 2023

Publisher: Bookouture

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:

The victim is lying under the trees, arms lifted above his head, unnaturally still. His muscles are slack. His eyes are empty. There are no signs of life. But he is not quite dead…

When Detective Kim Stone races to the crime scene, there is no body waiting for the paramedics are desperately trying to save the victim’s life. But there is something very strange about the way the man was found, his arms raised above his head, his legs spread apart. When he dies on the way to the hospital, Kim is certain she’s on the hunt for a killer… but all evidence at the scene has been destroyed.

The dead man, Eric Gould , seems ordinary, until the team dig into his past. As a teenager, he was locked away for attacking his girlfriend, and Kim suspects he was hurting his fiancé now. Was someone trying to stop history repeating?

Then another man is found on the verge of death, his bones broken to force him into an unnatural shape. The team realise the killer is sending a message – the victims’ bodies are spelling out their sins. As boys, they were both part of a group of six who bragged about their terrible crimes. But they were children then, and when she sees the grief on the faces of their loved ones now, Kim swears to find answers.

Is someone finally getting revenge… or do they think these men are still dangerous? The killer is threatening to strike again, and the only way Kim can crack the case is by tracking down the rest of the six first.

But then a revelation about what one of her team is suffering makes Kim understand why people take the law into their own hands. Do these victims deserve what’s coming to them? Or is there even more to fear from their brutal killer?

Unputdownable from start to finish, Bad Blood is a brilliantly gripping crime thriller with a reveal you’ll never see coming. Fans of Karin Slaughter, Robert Dugoni and Val McDermid will love the latest compulsive read from multi-million-copy bestseller Angela Marsons.

Review:

Somehow this is number 19 in the Kim Stone series and if you’re thinking there is no way that a series could go on for this long and still be just as exciting and well written as the very first book you would be wrong. I have rated every single one of these books five stars and I’m not sure there is another series out there that has been rated as highly by me. That’s really saying something too, because I am the kind of reader who adores a series and I am an devoted reader of so many of them but few can hold a candle to this one, it is definitely one of my very favorites.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about Kim as a character is how very black and white she views the world. She is confident in her beliefs and rarely goes back and forth about situations after she’s made a decision for herself or her team. This book explored the gray areas of life where there isn’t always an easy answer and it was fascinating to see Kim navigate uncharted waters. Vigilante justice plays a role in one of the cases Kim and crew are working and that’s a concept that always gets me thinking. In Marsons skilled hands she leads the reader down a dark and dangerous path alongside the team and the entire ride was suspenseful, entertaining and wholly satisfying. Besides an intricate plot in terms of the team’s caseload, you also have some happenings that have shifted the dynamics between Kim, Bryant, Stacy and Penn. This added an emotional layer to the story and it also added even more depth to the fantastic characterization that I’ve come to expect from the author. If you like very well written crime fiction with incredible characters, fast pacing and complex plotting this one is a must!

Overall rating: 5/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.